The Oxbow by Thomas Cole and the Pink Forest by Patrick Jacobs

On a recent trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, I had the chance to see Thomas Cole’s 1836 View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm – The Oxbow. Thomas Cole was the founder of The Hudson River School. Along with Cole, Frederick Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt were some of the well-known landscape artists who were members of this movement.

This canvas is divided into two scenes: on the left is wild, untamed forest and on the right is organized, settled land. Starting from the top left corner of the canvas, there are dark grey rain clouds, which then shift into a bright sunny sky. There is a strong diagonal line that cuts the canvas and clearly separates the two sides. The ordered land on the right – the east – and the wild land on the left – the west – alludes to Manifest Destiny, the doctrine endorsing US expansion to the west. The organized land on the right represents the land that has been cultivated by humans, and the untamed land on the left is the unexplored land of the west that has yet to be settled.

Thomas Cole’s The Oxbow has influenced other artists including contemporary artist, Patrick Jacobs. Jacobs’ Pink Forest, like Cole’s The Oxbow, depicts wild nature in the foreground and an oxbow in the background. However, despite those obvious similarities, there are many differences between the two works. The primary distinction is that Jacobs’ work is bright pink, and the canvas is not divided between untamed and ordered land. Instead, when the viewer looks through the trees, the oxbow is hidden behind them. The viewer is placed inside the forest, walking toward civilization whereas in Cole’s work, the viewer is on the outside, looking in. If you are interested in learning more about The Oxbow, Patrick Jacobs’ work, or artists from the Hudson River School visit the MET and check out Jacobs’ website (http://www.patrickjacobs.info/). Also, if you are looking for a challenge, try to find the person that Cole painted into The Oxbow!

Source: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/patrick-jacobs-pink-forest-1

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/08.228/

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